Fig. 146.—Buen Retiro.
Spanish Porcelain—Buen Retiro.—When Charles III. came to the throne of Spain in 1759, from Naples he brought with him many of the workmen and much of the skill which had produced the beautiful china at Naples. These he established near his palace of El Buen Retiro, at Madrid, and here his experiments and the manufacture were carried on with great secrecy and much care. A letter from Spain, written in 1777, quoted by Marryat, says: “In the gardens of Buen Retiro the monarch has established a china manufactory, which strangers have not hitherto been permitted to examine. It is undoubtedly intended that experiments shall be secretly made, and the manufacture brought to some perfection before it be exposed to the eyes of the curious. Its productions are to be seen nowhere except in the palace of the sovereign, or in some Italian courts, to which they have been sent as presents,” etc. During the Napoleonic wars, when Spain was overrun with troops, the factory was destroyed (1812), and it has not been restored.
The single illustration ([Fig. 146]) is a very beautiful small vase, from Mr. Wales’s collection. It is exquisitely painted, and closely resembles the porcelain of Capo di Monte.
Marks supposed to have been used at Buen Retiro:
The same as Ludwigsburg. The same as Capo di Monte.